Gary Patterson WVU Week Presser

Refresh this page often to get the latest from FOW's (very rough) transcription of Gary Patterson's press conference about the coming game with West Virginia, and last week's loss to Oklahoma State. The new conference begins a few minutes after 12:30 central time. After the conference is finished, I'll clean up the transcript a little. When word-for-word excerpts are put up at GoFrogs.com, I'll put them in the comments below the article.

Coach is at the mike.

Alright... three Tuesdays left. For us going into the big ballgame, at WVU. Both of us came into the Big12 this year, both of us are on the same patch; they're a really good football team; we've lost three of the last four, they had an off week. We need to get healthy; that's not going to happen in the next few weeks. They have a great venue, great fans, some good players. We've got to get ready to go.

More injuries around the country? K-State doesn't look beat up. Lot of times the teams that stay healthier are older, more mature. During the week they bang each other (tackling in practice, I assume he means). We pull the pads off sooner, during the middle drills this weeks after period 9 or 10. Guys are beat up; we've gotta get the young players to go all game. We're playing a half or three quarters.

[young guys making plays?] Yes; we've had old guys making mistakes. Travone did not play well last week, to be honest with you. For whatever reason, I could tell we weren't fired up before the ball game. We had great practices last week, but we didn't play with very much emotion very much.

[Weather affecting?] We've already changed; we're doing everything here, and flying out Friday and getting into the hotel probably 10 PM. Usually I want to see the stadium sooner when it's the first time, but this time we'll bypass that. We'll do all our video testing here, that stuff.

It's supposed to be sunny Saturday, 3 PM. THe biggest thing is can we get in; being in charge of 100 somebody's sons. Thinking about Morgantown-- we were going to fly into the south, but now we're flying into Pittsburgh. We're going to stay in Pittsburgh; there's not really any place in Morgantown. It's like we stayed in Tulsa last week; when we play in Waco, we stayed in Temple.

[Boykin's status?] I think he's going to play. It's just young quarterbacks-- all young quarterbacks; I don't know abotu the pressure of it. All young QB's have to learn how to set his feet. He throws better when he's out running around; to be honest, we should have gotten him outside the zone blitzes. When he's not as tall, we have to get him out on a bootleg. When it's not there-- he has to understand, he's not Dan Marino; what your job is-- right now in the NFL, game managers are out. You don't have to do anything fantastic, just don't make mistakes. In that ball game, if we'd made a few field goals, run with the football, instead if it's 3d and 10, then it's 3rd and 4, and that's manageable. You gotta be careful; people always turn up the knob. In the Baylor game, he threw it up on the outside, we won the jump ball. We had some things against Texas Tech. But what do you do when things don't go well? He's trying to throw a bubble pass and it comes out sidewise, and things happen. We put Matt Brown in, he managed the game, he's older, he knows, and he can go. He's one of those guys who will take off with it.

Sometimes that's how we look at this-- that's how the Andy Dalton Rule came about-- Travone understands this; the margin of error against good teams is gone. The competition level in the Big12 is better, it's the margin of error is smaller. We can't throw two picks and win. The attention to detail, why we do this on the field, it all matters. Older guys do this; but you can't just blame it on ehte youth Elijah Olabode got beat on. People say it's all because of you, but it's not all because of you. I wasn't very happy, but I watched the game coming home, and even in the fourth quarter, the defense was throwing its body all over the place. It wasn't quit-- James Fry said something like that, but it wasn't that. It's still going 53-50 against Texas Tech; we were in the ball game. It's how do you learn to get your young people to stay in the ball game?

One of the hardest things is, here's the gameplan. We know how to stop them, but I don't know if our freshmen can do it all yet. When Casey came in last year, he'd been in the program three and a half years. How he acted last season was exactly the way he played the first scrimmage coming in out of high school. THere's no flinch in him. Trevone is like Andy-- no sitting; he didn't even get a full week's practice at QB. Guys were coming right at him-- you gotta have a swagger about you. TCU used to play like that, and we're going to get back there.

[Comparison with Maryland QB's issues-- would you pull Tyler Matthews' redshirt off?] I don't know if I would do that. This late in the season you gotta find a different answer. Think of Baylor-- what if Nick Florence was a junior this year? He played in one ballgame last season. Right off the cuff, now, I'd say no, find a different answer.

[Boykin's throwing motion?] He's just not as tall; people have been on Phillip Rivers's butt since he started; he's got an awkward motion; I think he's been to the probowl. Everybody's different. Boykin's motion was OK against Texas Tech. He's just gotta know-- when you got a wall of people coming at you, you gotta find a differenta nswer. Unless you're 6-6 and you can put the ball over them, you gotta change things and do things differently. Obviously feet, we're working on arm motion every spring. Honestly, throwing over 6-7 guys, unless you can throw between his arms, it doesn't matter how tall you are. THe teams that have given him trouble, they've been tall at tackle.

You always learn more in losing seasons. When I was at Tennessee Tech we won three games in three years, I learned more

In 2001, we had a whole new crew on offense, in the Nebraska we lost 5 guys who went on the play in the NFL-- first ball game! We went 4-5 to start, and we went back into pads. I blamed the team-- I called a good game, and they played a bad one. I learned from those experiences. When we're upset at the team, it's only at about 10% of the team. We get better in a routine. I used to try to change all the routine; we gotta get them rest. We have guys who got run by in the OkieLight game, that wouldn't have happened at the beginning of the year. Baylor and Oklahoma State both had two off weeks already. Coach Gundy says his defense is starting to play well because they're getting people healthy. We have two weeks before we can do that. It's like Stansly Maponga-- he might make only five plays in a game, but instead of third-and-six, it might be third-and-fourteen because he sacked the guy. It changes the whole complexion of the drive. You take four or five guys out, and it makes a difference.

But if we do all this, I'm telling him coaching's not important; practice is not important. He had to stay on the sideline and suffer along with the rest of us.

We have to keep our process geared for success four and five years down the line. We're growing up a young team.

[Marcus Mallet this week?] Possible. Why would I want to tell all my secrets in this presser? These guy's I'd like to rush with 12 and cover with 9, the way these offenses are. But they don't let me take 19 guys out there. They're getting Alston back; we're losing people.

[Geno Smith?] He's been running the offense a long time; he can make all the throws, do what he needs to do. He's got a lot of weapons-- like all things, it makes things work better for him when he can throw to 4.4 receivers who can jump.

[K-State comparied to WVU, in their games against TTech] Both can rush the quarterback; both offenses move quickly out of the gate can make it a passing the game-- they have to pass because they're behind.

[Have you taken a look yet at Collin Klein?] We all watch film, but Geno Smith gives me enough to work on right now.

[WVU a tough place on the road; talk about that?] We don't ever have anybody come in a talk to us about it, but everybody knows-- they love their football up there. That's what you want. That's why they've been good there. When football's really important to the crowd, you'll be good on the field. What we found out in the MWC is you have to bring your own energy. You can get in trouble really fast if you don't. It's like going to BYU or Utah, you take 200 and they bring 75,000. It's an advantage for them, but it's an advantage for us when they go this way.

[Preparing for Tavon Austin?] He's not faster than Tevin Reese and Terrence Williams at Baylor; they best way to defend is not to get the ball in his hands-- don't kick to him, don't punt to him; they do a lot of things to get the ball to him. The question is what did Tech and K-State do? They made sure Bailey and Tavon Austin weren't beating you.

[Has the need to win changed things here?] The defensive coordinators would rather defend Pachall than Boykin, becuase Pachall wouldn't run. WHat you want is a junior Trevone Boykin, not a freshmen. But when you have a Pachall who plays at such a high level, you can trump the running game. Geno Smith and Seth Doege can run the ball, but they don't.

[What's more important? Skill set or game managing?] Well, until you get a skill set, I'd say you need management. I was listening to the 49er game about Smith, played really early, threw a lot of interceptions. Listening to the announcers; it's not Coach Harbaugh; nobody wants to hear about how this guys manages the game more. But the guy who does it wins the ballgames-- he doesn't make throws he shouldn't make. Get the ball, make long drives, punt, play good defense.

Playing physically matters-- that's what K-State's doing. Get it in our hands, long drive, score. Look at what he does-- what Collin Klein does in the fourth quarter-- they take the wind out of your sail. Playing fast, doing the hurry up thing, those guys are not patient. THey have to go quick; when you're at third down and you have to punt. You have to make the other team kick field goals-- we did that agianst Oklahoma State, but they only allowed one touchdown! Who played better defense? THey did. It was still about defense. In November, the team that plays best defense, controls the ball, is the team that wins the conference title. Look at who's playing well, how they do it, everybody has to play each other. In the end the team that plays the best defense wins. What was the score of the Tech-K-State game at halftime? 13-10? But after the third quarter the game was done. You gotta find a way to turn up the knob at halftime, and they're find a way to do it.